Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 00:07:42 +0100 From: Colin Wight <Colin.Wight-AT-aber.ac.uk> Subject: Re: BHA: Explanatory Power Hi Jonathan, Very quickly, I'm kind of surprised by two things. One, the failure to see that it was not I who introduced authority into the discussionn, and two, the failure to see just how much rationalism allows your account to get off the ground (unless of course you are claiming that you experience the mechanisms). Indeed, if you want to talk of explanatory power in terms of CR, the empirical as RB puts it in another context, is simply a positive riple on a sea on negativity. But really you are all going to have to excuse me on this one, it's not even something that bothers me that much. In terms of authority, incidentally, it is not simply decision making as such since we often defer to authority when we want to grasp the best explanation. Moreover, even decisions are decisions of something and the decision to simply go to the cinema can often be the result of a very deep explanatory account (i.e. why do you want to see THAT film?); and committee decision more oftne are than not explanatory accounts. This is onbly a transient effect however, and as with all such decisions, what we are really saying is that we haven't yet got enough evidence (understood as not exhuasted by the empirical). More than this I clearly stated that I didn't really think torture and authority were particulalry scientific; you need to address your concerns re authority to Tobin: I was simply trying to work through some instances where it might be used. More to the point though Jonathan you actually concede my argument when you argue: although in special circumstances >other criteria may be considered as surrogates. I rest my case on this one!!! One more thing, whatever your account may be Jonathan, I am sure that CR, and RB in particular, does not accord primamcy to the empirical; and I also said that in most cases knowledge claims will have an empirical referent. Cheers, ============================================ Dr. Colin Wight Department of International Politics University of Wales, Aberystwyth Wales SY23 3DA Tel: (01970) 621769 --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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